I’ve recently started looking for American made sound gear, and I have to admit, it’s incredibly hard to find. After a search that spanned about 3 weeks, I was not able to find a single soundbar that was “all or virtually all made in the U.S.”
However, I was able to find a handful of soundbars that were either assembled in America or sold by American companies.
The options for truly American made speakers is a little bit depressing, to be honest, but I’ve pulled together a list of the best soundbars that will benefit U.S. workers and businesses.
What Qualifies For “Made in the U.S.A.”?
As you might imagine, there are many levels of products being American made. Here are some possibilities:
- Product was assembled OUTSIDE the U.S. with parts that were made OUTSIDE the U.S. but are sold by a company headquartered in America (way more common than you think)
- Product was assembled INSIDE the U.S. with parts that were made OUTSIDE the U.S. and are sold by a company headquartered in America
- Product was assembled INSIDE the U.S. with some parts being made OUTSIDE and some parts made INSIDE the U.S. and sold by a company headquartered in America.
- Product was assembled INSIDE the U.S. with all parts being made INSIDE the U.S. and sold by a company headquartered in America (These are incredibly difficult to find)
In order for a product to get the stamp of “Made in the U.S.A,” it has to fall under the 4th category in that list.
Specifically, the FTC definition for made in the USA is as follows: “For a product to be called Made in USA, or claimed to be of domestic origin without qualifications or limits on the claim, the product must be “all or virtually all” made in the U.S. The term “United States,” as referred to in the Enforcement Policy Statement, includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories and possessions.“
It turns out that big audio companies don’t make soundbars in the U.S.A. Bose and JBL are huge American speaker producers that don’t actually sell any products that were “Made in the USA.”
In fact, the most American made major speaker manufacturer is Klipsch, and they only have a very small handful of products that are truly made in the U.S.A.
Companies With Products Actually “Made in the USA”
In my quest to find American made sound equipment I’ve been shocked and disappointed to find that virtually no big name brands have American made products. To find sound gear “Made in the U.S.A.” you have two choices:
- Buy one of a handful of products from Klipsch
- Buy from a small company you’ve probably never heard of
There are a lot of smaller, more specialized speaker producers that actually make their products here in the states. The problem is that it’s hard to find them, hard to buy from them and even harder to actually sound test their products.
So here’s a list of companies I’ve found that actually sell at least 1 product that is “Made in the U.S.A.”
- Klipsch – Biggest speaker producer that has American made speakers
- Ammo Audio
- Fern and Roby Audio
- Genesis
- Magico Audio
- Rockport Technologies
- Ryan Speakers
- Salk Sound
- Tekton Design
- Vandersteen
- Von Schweikert Audio
- YG Acoustics
Note: You can read a bit more about each of these companies in my American made bluetooth speakers article.
But here’s the problem: the only company on this list that sells a soundbar is Klipsch, and their sound bars aren’t part of their “Designed and assembled in the U.S.A.” line of speakers.
So what can you do?
Choices for American Made Soundbars
As far as I’ve been able to find, there aren’t any soundbars on the market that are truly American made. There may be some out there at some smaller shops that have slipped past my radar, but I was unable to find a single one.
So you have two options:
1. Spend more money to buy a home theatre sound system
If you have the flexibility to spend more money (we’re talking well into the thousands of dollars) and you have enough space to house a larger sound system, then you have some options.
Several of the companies I mentioned above make speaker systems that are truly state of the art and could serve any purpose from recording music to playing large music venues to connecting to your home TV.
You’ll need a bit of a setup though. For most of these setups, you’d need a signal receiver that connects to a power amp and goes on to the speakers.
This is unreasonable for most people, so I’m just going to stop there. If this is a path you want to take, then I would recommend doing some research on your own. If you find some products that interest you then you can try to find authorized dealers for those products. Visit a dealer and test out the products that interest you in person.
2. Buy a soundbar that is partially American made
Your other option is to simply buy a soundbar that is assembled in the US with foreign parts or a soundbar that is sold by an American company.
I admit it, it’s disappointing. I’m frustrated that there simply aren’t any options to buy soundbars that were “Made in the U.S.A.”
But the sad and hard truth is that if you can’t afford to buy something state of the art, you’ll be settling for a products that’s only partially American made.
With that said, I was able to find a few options that fit this description.
The Best (Partially) American Made Soundbars
Here are some soundbar options I’ve found that are partially American made.
Klipsch Cinema 400 Soundbar with Subwoofer
- Klipsch has more American made products than every other company on this list
- Comes with 8 inch subwoofer
- Sound quality that matches or surpasses everything in the price range
The Cinema 400 is one of two Klipsch soundbars on this list. When I buy new speakers, I prefer to buy Klipsch because they are the closest thing to American made that you can buy for less than $2,000. And they still sell speakers that are “Made in the U.S.A.”
Klipsch has a large factories in Indianapolis, Indiana and Hope, Arkansas where they design, assemble and build speakers.
If you want an affordable soundbar with great sound, then Klipsch is the best there is.
Klipsch Cinema 600 Soundbar with Subwoofer
- Klipsch has more American made products than every other company on this list
- Comes with 10 inch wireless subwoofer
- 3.1 true surround sound and 5.1 virtual surround sound
- Sound quality that matches or surpasses everything in the price range
The Cinema 600 is a bigger, better version of the Cinema 400. It comes with more power, a bigger subwoofer and true 3.1 surround sound.
Again, in my opinion, these are the two most American made soundbars I’ve found and their quality is equal to (or surpasses) anything else in their respective price ranges. It’s reasonable to assume that at least some parts of the assembly of these two Klipsch soundbars happen in the U.S.
JBL Bar 5.1
- JBL is an American company
- The JBL Bar 5.1 is one of the best value soundbars available today
- Comes with detachable speakers allowing for true 5.1 surround sound
- Comes with 10 inch subwoofer
Let me be clear, this soundbar is not made in the U.S.A. However, JBL is an American company who makes excellent speakers, and in my opinion the JBL 5.1 bar is one of the best values you can get for a soundbar today.
Not only does it come with a high quality 10 inch soundbar, but the two end speakers on the soundbar itself detach. They are connected wireless to the system and you can put the speakers behind you to create a true 5.1 surround sound experience.
This soundbar has features that most others in its price range simply can’t match, and the sound quality is on par with much more expensive speakers.
So this speaker isn’t really American made, but if you’re OK buying a foreign made soundbar from an American company they this soundbar is an excellent choice.
Bose TV Speaker Soundbar
- Bose is an American company
- Soundbar gets great bass without a subwoofer
- Sound designed for use with a TV
Again, this soundbar is not made in the U.S. and you can be reasonably sure that no part of the assembly of this speaker is done in America. But Bose is an American company and they make high quality speakers.
One of the nice features of the Bose soundbars is that they keep the strong bass sound without needing the extra subwoofer.
And this particular soundbar is actually named the “TV Speaker” because it’s intended purpose is to be used with a television.
Conclusion
The sad, and frustrating, truth is that you simply can’t find soundbars that are “Made in the U.S.A.” To get that you have to buy state of the art equipment, which simply isn’t possible for most of us.
So if you value the quality (and economics) of buying American, then your best bet is to either buy from Klipsch, who still makes American speakers, or buy from an American company like JBL or Bose.
